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Watercolors, Portraits and Fashion Plates Portray Paris Society of Early 1900's in Exhibit Opening Tomorrow in New Print Galleries at Metropolitan Museum of Art

THE
NEWS
FOR Friday, March 2, 1951
RELEASE
METROPOLITA
USEUM OF ART
FIFTH AYE.at82 STREET • NEW YORK
PRESS VIEW: Thursday, March 1
2*00 - 4:30 pirn*
WATERCOLORS, PORTRAITS AND FASHION PLATES PORTRAY PARIS SOCIETY OF EARLY 1900»S
IN EXHIBIT OPENING TOMORROW IN NEW PRINT GALLERIES AT METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
A series of fashion plates, watercolors and portraits reflecting Paris eociety
during the Edwardian period in the early 1900's goes on view tomorrow in the new
print galleries on the ground floor of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. More than
fifty watercolors by Pierre Yidal, fashionable etcher and lithographer of the period,
are Included in the display.
Vidal's watercolors were commissioned by M. Henri Beraldi, one of the last of
the great French print collectors and bibliophiles. The series of 70 from which
the drawings In the Metropolitan exhibition were selected was entitled Le Monument
du Costume, La Vie Mondaine a Paris. Completed in 1913* they were to have been
published in a deluxe edition, but the outbreak of war the following year caused
the project to be shelved by M. Beraldi. Purchased this year by the Museum, they
are now being shown for the first time.
Displayed In Empire-style mats, the Yidal drawings constitute windows through
which can be seen the Paris so loved by King Edward VII of England, Writing about
the drawings in the forthcoming March isBue of the Museum Bulletin, Edward Fenton,
of the Department of Prints, says:
'We see ... Parisians driving and strolling in the Bois or on the Champs
Elysees at the correct hours. The ladies carry toy terriers. The gentlemen who
greet them have collies at their sides. As we watch, the carriages and horses
yield to the motoring veils and the long*coated elegances of 'le nouveau sport,'
"A maid shakes a new boa out of its tissue paper as Madame prepares for a
round of calls in Neuilly or Paesy. Friends meet among tiny pleated pink lampshades
for '1'heure du the1 at the RItz; or else one takes 'le Five O'clock' at the more
English 'Topsie Tea Rooms' on the Boulevard Hausemann. Anything English is a la mode,
reflecting the popularity of the frequent visitor with the beard, so much more at
home in Paris than in Buckingham Palace."
Contemporary portraits from the Museum's collections, among them a marble bust
of Madame X by Rodin and Boldini's striking painting of Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough, and Lord Ivor Spencer Churchill are also included in the exhibition. "Art
Nouveau" furniture, early examples of Lalique glass, fashion plates and photographs
provide an appropriate setting for the display.
The exhibition will continue through April 15,
-0-

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THE
NEWS
FOR Friday, March 2, 1951
RELEASE
METROPOLITA
USEUM OF ART
FIFTH AYE.at82 STREET • NEW YORK
PRESS VIEW: Thursday, March 1
2*00 - 4:30 pirn*
WATERCOLORS, PORTRAITS AND FASHION PLATES PORTRAY PARIS SOCIETY OF EARLY 1900»S
IN EXHIBIT OPENING TOMORROW IN NEW PRINT GALLERIES AT METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
A series of fashion plates, watercolors and portraits reflecting Paris eociety
during the Edwardian period in the early 1900's goes on view tomorrow in the new
print galleries on the ground floor of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. More than
fifty watercolors by Pierre Yidal, fashionable etcher and lithographer of the period,
are Included in the display.
Vidal's watercolors were commissioned by M. Henri Beraldi, one of the last of
the great French print collectors and bibliophiles. The series of 70 from which
the drawings In the Metropolitan exhibition were selected was entitled Le Monument
du Costume, La Vie Mondaine a Paris. Completed in 1913* they were to have been
published in a deluxe edition, but the outbreak of war the following year caused
the project to be shelved by M. Beraldi. Purchased this year by the Museum, they
are now being shown for the first time.
Displayed In Empire-style mats, the Yidal drawings constitute windows through
which can be seen the Paris so loved by King Edward VII of England, Writing about
the drawings in the forthcoming March isBue of the Museum Bulletin, Edward Fenton,
of the Department of Prints, says:
'We see ... Parisians driving and strolling in the Bois or on the Champs
Elysees at the correct hours. The ladies carry toy terriers. The gentlemen who
greet them have collies at their sides. As we watch, the carriages and horses
yield to the motoring veils and the long*coated elegances of 'le nouveau sport,'
"A maid shakes a new boa out of its tissue paper as Madame prepares for a
round of calls in Neuilly or Paesy. Friends meet among tiny pleated pink lampshades
for '1'heure du the1 at the RItz; or else one takes 'le Five O'clock' at the more
English 'Topsie Tea Rooms' on the Boulevard Hausemann. Anything English is a la mode,
reflecting the popularity of the frequent visitor with the beard, so much more at
home in Paris than in Buckingham Palace."
Contemporary portraits from the Museum's collections, among them a marble bust
of Madame X by Rodin and Boldini's striking painting of Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough, and Lord Ivor Spencer Churchill are also included in the exhibition. "Art
Nouveau" furniture, early examples of Lalique glass, fashion plates and photographs
provide an appropriate setting for the display.
The exhibition will continue through April 15,
-0-